How Churches become entrenched: Two Insecure Pastors

What usually happens

Pastor McKinley reflects carefully on what the Robinsons are saying.  Inwardly, he is pleased, delighted in fact.  He needs families like this in his congregation.  Everything they have said confirms what he has believed all along.  He has a good few like them in his flock.  They all have similar stories.  It simply proves what his elders and he have suspected about Living Springs and churches like it all along.  False apostles.  False teachers.  False prophets.  He is going to warn his people once again about the dangers of so-called Charismatic churches.

Meanwhile, across town...

Sharon: Well Steve.  What do you think?  That's the third person in the last year who has left Ebenezer, considering coming here.  What's going on?  They all say the same sort of things.  Won't that church ever learn?  

Steve: I agree, Sharon.  Really do.  But I feel uneasy about something.

Sharon:  Uneasy?  What about?

Steve:  Not sure.  Ermmm.  I think it's this.  We haven't seen the Robinsons for a few weeks now have we?

Sharon:  No.  I miss Marie.  And their kids are lovely.  Have they started to go somewhere else do you think?

Steve:  Yep.  I saw Peter in town a couple of days ago talking to one of the families who go to Ebenezer.  Those Irish people who came to our church for a while.  I think they may have joined them at the Tabernacle.

Sharon:  Oh.  If that's the case, I'd feel a little hurt.  Have they ever said to you they were unhappy with us?

Steve:  No, not a thing.  Don't they think they can talk to us?  I always thought I was approachable at least.

Sharon:  So what are you saying, Steve?  Maybe you and Billy McKinley ought to talk to each other as well...

Steve:  I just can't, Sharon.  In all honesty, I find him a bit intimidating...

And so, our two churches stay in their trenches.  Each believes the other church to be in serious error.  Is there a better way?  Can these pastors be a little more grown up?

I have some ideas, see what you think.

Alternative Approaches

1.  Do not permit any transfer growth.  Simply tell people who want to transfer to your church from another in the same town to go back.  I know of one pastor who took precisely this approach and his church did not seem to suffer for it.  They grew.  I just wonder if that approach is a bit of a blunt instrument, an over-reaction, tarring everyone with the same brush.

2.  Check that they have talked.  Tell people who want to move to your church to make sure they have talked their issues through with their previous pastors.

So Pastor McKinley will say, 'You'd be more than welcome to join us, Mr Robinson.  But I must insist that you do one thing.  All the concerns you have mentioned to me, you must raise them with Pastor Brightside.  Have you had this conversation with him?  Have you given them a full opportunity to sort themselves out?  It's only fair.  If you haven't talked through these things with him, especially the issue around the worship band and the man on benefits, then I can't really allow you to come into membership here.'

3.  Pull Ranks.  Tell people that the leader of the other church is a good friend of yours.  It has to be the truth of course!  But if people are moving with for the wrong reasons, perhaps with a critical spirit or because they were confronted about sin in their lives that they don't want to deal with, it puts them on the defensive.  The shepherds in a town or city need to be more grown up than the sheep and, as far as they are able, co-operate and work as a team, even if they disagree over some significant things.

So in this scenario, Steve Brightside would say to 'Oh yes, I talk to Bill McKinley every now and again.  How is his eldest son doing on his Law degree?  Was his wife's operation successful?'

The only problem with this approach would be if one church was doing something seriously wrong.  To know about an issue and not to mention it out of fear or a misplaced desire for unity can result in serious damage to some individuals and the honour due to the Lord.

4.  Get in touch.  In this instance, the Pastors - whoever wants to make the first move - meet each other or speak on the phone about the families in question.  Leaders need to be more mature than their followers.  Perhaps frank discussions should take place where there are deep disagreements and where misunderstandings might have taken place.  Where someone has clear convictions, states them, states his principles but shows grace and integrity, I can have a good relationship with that person, even if I disagree with some of what he believes.

The phone rings.

Pastor M: McKinley Household
Steve (Breathing quite heavily): Is that Pastor McKinley from Ebenezer Church?
Pastor M: It is.  Can I help you?  Who am I speaking to?
Steve: Nice to speak to you, Pastor.  My name is Steve Brightside.  I'm the Pastor of Living Springs Church.  Er, I wondered if we could chat about a few things?
Pastor M (Pausing a little): Oh, er, good evening!  (At this point, a hundred thoughts go through his mind.  How do I relate to this guy?).  Call me Bill!  How are things, Steve?  What can I do for you?
Steve: Well, I've noticed quite a few of people have left us to join your church, and we've recently had a couple of your families joining us.  It doesn't seem right to me to just keep letting this happen without at least touching base with each other.  What do you think?  Can we discuss some of these people, Bill?
Pastor M: Hmmm.  Aye, I think you're right Steve.  But it's better to talk face to face than on the phone, what do you think?
Steve: Agreed!  Should we go somewhere for coffee?  They're on me!!
Pastor M:  Well, why not come to our place?  Bring your wife too, Sharon is it?  My wife will keep her company...

How Churches become entrenched: Two disgruntled families

I think you get the gist by now.

I could do another post on DL Moody.  Or the Huguenots.  Or some of the early missionaries to the British Isles like St Aidan, St Augustine of Canterbury, St Patrick, St David.  I could quote from the writings of our own son of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede or from the writings of the Church Fathers.

There are plenty of websites that cover these things.  My point would be that if you are prepared to do the research, it is possible to find plenty of instances of phenomena like healing, deliverance from demons, gifts of prophecy, words of knowledge and so on which are verified by people widely respected by evangelical and reformed Christians.

And I will be the first to admit that there are many false prophecies, fake healing, dodgy manifestations of the Spirit out there too, as the New Testament warns us.  Of course there are!  When you have something good, someone will try to counterfeit it.  The existence of the fake suggests that the real thing exists as well.

But I thought I would take you over to Shieldcastlehope to discuss how people become entrenched in their positions.

We have two scenarios.

The Robinsons

When the Robinson family leaves Living Springs for Ebenezer, they meet the pastor.
This is what Jim Robinson says:

"Pastor McKinley, I don't think we can take another week there.  They're shallow.  The songs and the sermons are shallow.  I think the pastor copies most of his sermons from YouTube.  They preach an easy-going 'feel-good' gospel.  And they'll let anyone to the front and speak, and I mean anyone, even people with nothing meaningful to say.

They have a food bank, and that's great.  But it's run by a guy who lives on benefits and refuses to work for a living, but he does all sorts for the church.  It's not right!  If he's fit to serve for his church, isn't he fit to work for a living and come off benefits?  There's a guy in the worship band who's living with his girlfriend.  Everyone knows this but nobody says anything because he's a great drummer.  We're trying to teach our children right from wrong, but the church kids are allowed to watch all sorts of unsavoury stuff on the telly. 

What's the difference between them and the world?  I'm beginning to think they're a false church"

What do you think Pastor McKinley is going to say?  What should he say?

The Johnsons

Now, over to the Johnsons.  They leave ERBT for the LSVF.  What's their story?  Here is a summary of what Frank Johnson says:

"Steve.  We can stand it no longer!  The teaching at Ebenezer's great, but it's so dry!  There's a lack of real faith, real joy. 

Yes, they can be friendly, but you can't talk about deep things.  It's so hard to get beyond 'how's your mother's illness? or how is James doing in his GCSEs?'.  They'll talk about theology, but I'd be embarrassed to discuss our recent marital problems with the pastor and certainly not any of the elders.  They just seem to pretend everything is fine when it isn't. 

And our kids keep being told off for running around after the service.  We're thirsty for God Steve, but I find the approach is so intellectual.  Our kids find it boring and the pews are hard.  When the main service is over, people stay for tea and coffee but it's difficult to make any really meaningful friendships. 

And the women... my wife Jan is so intelligent and would love to develop a ministry like counselling, but there's no way of her developing there.  There's tea making and flower arranging.  But is that what the Kingdom of God is all about?  It's like the Bible says somewhere - a form of godliness but denying the power.  Weren't the Pharisees like this?  Obeying all the rules but not really knowing the Lord in any intimate way?  Perhaps it's a false church."

Should Steve and Sharon welcome this family?  Is there anything else they could or should do?

Well Known Charismatic Christian Leaders: Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones on Joy in the Holy Spirit

Older Evangelicals Christians in Britain will need no introduction to Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones.  Originating from South Wales, following Campbell Morgan at Westminster Chapel in London, he was arguably the most influential Christian leader in the 20th Century.

Not only did he write numerous books, for example:

• A 12 Volume commentry on Romans
• A 5 Volume commentry on 1John
• A 2 Volume commentry on the Sermon on the Mount
• 'Preaching and Preachers', possibly his most influential book

More than this, however, he founded the Publishers 'Banner of Truth'.

A far more adequate introduction can be read in his Wikipedia entry or the introduction in the MLJ Trust website which includes some videos.

His credentials as a preacher from the Reformed tradition who had an uncompromisingly high view of scripture and a great legacythrough his teaching and writing are there for all to see.

I want to mention a few things now in relation to his views on issues of interest to Charismatics.

1. Between the years 1955 and 1968, Lloyd Jones taught through the Book of Romans.  Spanning Chapters 1 to 14, there are 366 sermons on the Epistle.  Due to an illness from which he retired from pastoral ministry, he only reached as far as Chapter 14:17.  I will follow with the Doctor's own words on this:

There is another thing to be said, and I am more concerned about this at present.  The interruption of my ministry had a message for me.  I was at Romans 14:17.  I had dealt with ‘righteousness’, with ‘peace’ on March 1st, and there I was stopped.  I was not allowed to deal with ‘joy in the Holy Ghost’.  I have the feeling that this was not accidental.  God intervened and I could suggest a reason why.  I was able to deal with righteousness and peace (I had fleeting experiences of it), but the third thing is the profoundest of all.  Why was I not allowed to deal with it?  Because I knew something, but not enough about it.  ‘I want you to speak with greater authority on this,’ God said.

"Here is what I would put before you.  For six months, until September, I did not preach at all.  For four months I have had the most valuable experience of being a listener.  My general impression is that most of our services are terribly depressing!  I am amazed people still go to church; most who go are female and over the age of forty.  The note missing is ‘joy in the Holy Ghost’.  There is nothing in these services to make a stranger feel that he is missing something by not being there.  It is as though there is a weight upon us and the minister, feeling this, thinks he must be short.  So the people come together in order to depart!  Speaking generally, I think it is true to say this and there is little difference in this respect in evangelical churches.

It is a great thing to be a listener.  You want something for your soul.  You want help.  I don’t want a ‘great sermon’.  I want to feel the presence of the God I am worshipping and to know that I am considering some great and glorious subject.  If I do get this, I do not care how poor the sermon is.

I suggest to you that our greatest danger is professionalism.  We do not stop sufficiently frequently to ask, ‘What are we really doing?’  There is the danger of just facing a text and treating it as an end in itself with a strange detachment.  It is all intellectual.  Nor should our preaching be just emotional, or only to the conscience.  Far too often it is one or other of these things.  There is no life, no power!  We of all people ought to have it.  Joy and power are intimately related.  One without the other is spurious."

So there we have it.  Britain's foremost Reformed Evangelical leader of the last century admits that there is a lackof joy in the Holy Spirit in his own life and in the churches.  To me, this is an incredible admission.

He later dealt with the subject of joy in the Holy Spirit in his book 'Joy Unspeakable', published posthumously in 1984.

I need to say here that he did not share the Pentecostal understanding of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  He put his views into a more objective and Calvinistic framework.  However, he did say that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a separate experience from conversion and is something that the church needs in order to experience revival.

I am going to finish here with some fascinating thoughts by John Piper on Lloyd Jones.  If you enjoyed reading this blog post, the following is solid gold, a treat to read, but better still if you listen to the audio version at the top of the page.

I have more to say on Doctor Martyn Lloyd Jones, but I will leave this until next time.

Well known Charismatic Christian Leaders: Charles Spurgeon's ministry of Words of Knowledge and Healing

The next few posts are aimed at my cessationist brethren.  A cessationist, remember, is someone who believes that gifts of the Spirit such as prophecy, other languages, physical healing, are not for today.  They were only for the times of the early apostles and those who seek these things are in error.

So (through these slightly provocative titles) I will begin by showing how well known leaders admired by cessationists exercised gifts of the Spirit of various kinds.

I used to dislike Charles Spurgeon.  My antagonistic feelings began many years ago, when a good friend of mine joined a reformed evangelical church, very similar to the Ebenezer Reformed Bible Tabernacle in Shieldcastlehope.  My friend began to grow less friendly towards some of my other Christian friends and started picking arguments with people over predestination and freewill.  At the same time, he became an avid student of Charles Spurgeon sermons and biographies.  He told me once that the Pastor of his church had a large poster of Charles Spurgon in his study.  I was unhappy with the direction my friend's spiritual life was going in and to some extent I blamed CHS himself.

This all changed when I began to read some of his sermons, and his book 'Lectures to my Students'.  Hey!  I really like this guy!

So what has been going on here?

I think that people who limit God and in doing so, quench the Spirit, instinctively look for a champion to further their cause.  CH Spurgeon, who was a Calvinist and huge admirer of the Puritans, fits that bill quite well, not least because he had a hugely fruitful and powerful ministry.  He stood against the liberal theologians of his day, warned against emotionalism, he disliked altar calls, he eschewed more superstitious expressions of Christianity and he therefore became a champion of the Reformed faith.

Most books about Spurgeon are written by cessationists and therefore will not say too much about the miraculous elements of his ministry, and he himself downplayed these things.  But I am going to quote now from some biographies of Spurgeon - firstly his own autobiography via this You Tube clip:

Now a quote from 'Spurgeon A New Biography' by Arnold Dallimore (P140).

In view of Spurgeon's own long sickness and that of his wife, it is difficult to believe that many people thought he posessed a "gift of healing".  The best information on this matter is to be found in Russell Conwell's Life of Spurgeon, particularly in his chapter, "Wonderful Healing."
The idea began during the cholera epidemic.  As we saw, Spurgeon visited numerous homes where the disease raged, and there he prayed that the sick one might be made well.  In many instances, in someone who seemed near death the disease was stopped, and before long health returned.  People were sure this was the result of prayer.
During further years Spurgeon prayed for persons in sicknesses of various kinds, and although in many a case there was no betterment, in others there was improvement that appeared miraculous.  Dr Conwell examined several of these experiences and in 1892, the year of Spurgeon's death, he declared:

There are now living and worshipping in the Metropolitan Tabernacle hundreds of people who ascribe the extension of their life to the effect of Mr Spurgeon's personal prayers.  They have been sick with disease and nigh unto death, he has appeared, kneeled by their beds and prayed for recovery.  Immediately the tide of health returned, the fevered pulse became calm, the temperature was reduced, and all the activities of nature resumed their normal functions within a short and unexpected period.  If a meeting were called of all those who attribute their recovery to the prayer of Mr Spurgeon, it would furnish me with one of the most deserved tributes to his memory that could possibly be made.

Conwell goes on to report seven specific instances of what was considered healing in response to Spurgeon's prayers.  "The belief in Mr Spurgeon's healing power became among some classes a positive superstition, and he was obliged to overcome the very false and extravagant expressions... by mentioning the matter from the pulpit, and rebuking the theories of the extremely enthusiastic.  He felt it was becoming too much like the shrines of Catholic Europe."
Spurgeon declared that the subject of divine healing was very much a mystery to him.  He said he prayed about sickness just as he prayed about anything else, and that in some instances God answered with healing, whereas in others, for reasons beyond our understanding, He allowed suffering to continue.

On Labels: A Tale of two Churches

Let's head down to the (fictitious) North East town called Shieldcastlehope.  In it are two main gospel churches, one called the Ebenezer Reformed Bible Tabernacle, led by Pastor William McKinley.  The other church, the Living Springs Victory Fellowship is led by husband and wife team, Pastors Steve and Sharon Brightside.

Yes.  You’ve already worked out which is which, which one you would attend and which one you wouldn’t be seen dead in!  Let’s just say that Ebenezer is the more traditional.  Suit and tie, Westminster confession, KJV, hymns only, cessationist, Calvinist, male preachers only, it contrasts with Living Springs with its hair-down, lights down, jeans and trainers dress code (and that's the leadership), its cool Saturday youth night and ‘give it a go’ approach to anything new.

Neither of these churches really exist, and yet.... they are replicated across the land.  I need to say here that both Ebernezer and Living Springs have sincere, committed people who love the Lord and one day their people, many of whom will not even acknowledge each other when they pass on the street, will share the New Heaven and the New Earth together.  Both have their good points and their bad points.

For now I will make just one observation.

They don't really like each other.  There's grudging acknowledgement that they do some good things, and there's a certain amount of fear in the relationship between respective leaders.  But they are entrenched in their respective positions.  If truth be known, they're even a bit embarrassed by their neighbours who they believe to represent an incorrect form of Christianity.

But every so often, an individual or family will leave one congregation for the other, having been hurt or frustrated or disappointed in some way.  Or an issue will come up which may need a united response.  They're in a smallish town.  They can't always avoid each other.

We'll revisit Shieldcastlehope a little later.

On Labels: What Charismatic does not mean

The term 'Charismatic', in church circles, has become synonymous with a whole lot of things that go on, some of them harmless but nevertheless unrelated to the filling and gifts of the Spirit, some distasteful inappropriate embarrassing or unwise, some just wrong.  This is why I need to do a list of things that charismatic does not mean.

Here goes.  'Charismatic' does not mean...

• A particular style or volume level of worship, lighting level or amount of electronic gadgetry
• A particular set of weird noises, manifestations, physical twitches or the habit of falling over in meetings
• Large numbers of people speaking in other languages in unison after a song accompanied by a musical instrument with no attempt at explanation or translation
• Teaching on an apparently random topic week after week based on 'what I think God wants to say to us'
• A larger than usual amount of hugging, ranging from slight side hugs to passionate bear hugs with no thought given to how well I know the person,cultural sensitivities, personal space or possible sexual attraction
• A more informal style of teaching with more than the usual daft jokes and self-indulgent anecdotes
• Allowing absolutely anyone to teach or 'share' from the front without any consideration of the person's character, commitment or background
• Because the worship is going so well, doing more songs and scrapping the teaching session, then treating it as a kind of triumph
• Regular prophecies of imminent revival or 'outpourings of the Holy Spirit' in the town or city the meeting is in without any reference to repentance, commitment, obedience or even competence
• Going around prophesying over people blessings without any reference to repentance, commitment or obedience
• Inviting prophets or healers to take meetings/missions/weekend schools without adequately checking their lifestyle, reputation, financial probity, track record or theological stance
• Basing major decisions on leadership or other personnel based on 'what God told me/us' and on various signs and co-incidences without reference to the person's character, biblical qualifications or suitability
• Using 'God told me...' as the last word on any decisions that have been taken
• Doing things because one 'feels led' and not checking things with other more mature people

That is why I can define myself a a 'Charismatic Evangelical' Christian.  A church like the Living Springs Victory Fellowship (see my next post!) would wholeheartedly call itself charismatic.  But it needs to look carefully at what that does and doesn't actually mean.  I have seen all of the above (and more) in churches and meetings that would call themselves charismatic.  But it doesn't actually mean they are.

On Labels: Charismatic

We are talking church definitions here.

So 'Evangelical' doesn't just mean 'zealous', 'fervent', 'persuasive'.  And Charismatic doesn't necessarily mean possessing a great deal of personal magnetism.

The Christian term 'Charismatic' has taken something of a beating, especially in the States.  Sermons, articles, books and even conferences have been brought about with the intention of warning Christians about these errant people.

But I'm sticking with it, one reason being that for many years, the term 'Pentecostal' attracted utmost suspicion and derision in Christian and unbelieving circles alike, but the term is now relatively respectable.

Evangelical comes from the Greek work 'Euangellion' which means good news, or Gospel.

Charismatic comes from the Greek work 'Charisma' which means Grace-gift.

The New Testament teaches that Holy Spirit(1) gives certain gifts [charisma] to believers, such as Prophecy, other languages(2) (tongues), healing and words of knowledge.  There are many recorded instances of charisma being used by Jesus and the early Christians as well as guidelines as to how they should be used.

A 'cessationist' believes that such things were a temporary phenomenon for the time in which the New Testament was being written, and possibly shortly afterwards.

A Charismatic believes as follows:

- We seek to have an experience of being 'baptised' (filled, immersed, drenched) in Holy Spirit.  This is distinct from conversion and is to be sought by all Christians.
- The baptism in Holy Spirit is normally evidenced by spontaneous speech.  This may be joyful praise, prophesying, speaking in other languages for example.
- We are to seek to be continually filled with Holy Spirit
- Holy Spirit gives us boldness and makes it easier to preach the Gospel.
- Holy Spirit gives gifts, such as prophecy, healing, wisdom, knowledge, discernment and speaking in other languages, distributed to all believers as He wills, applying to all classes, incomes, sexes and ages.  We are to earnestly desire the greater gifts.
- Holy Spirit enables us to preach the Gospel with signs following, such as healing and deliverance from demons.
- Through our knowledge of Scripture, our maturity in Christ and the Gift of Discernment of Spirits, we can identify false prophecy and prophets, counterfeit gifts and miracles thus protecting ourselves from 'wolves' who would damage the church.

Charismatic Churches:
1. Seek for their members to be (initially) baptised in and (continually) filled with Holy Spirit.
2. Earnestly desire spiritual gifts and use them in church meetings and evangelism
3. Use the gift of discernment and scriptural knowledge to weigh up prophecies.
4. Allow suitably gifted people to contribute in meetings no matter what age, education, race, sex or social class.
5. Speak with authority.  Use words of command as well as prayer to deal with sickness and demons.

Why are we charismatic?

Because the Bible, in Acts, says this:

In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

In Mark Chapter 16, it says this:

He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.  And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on people who are ill, and they will get well.’
After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.  Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Note that the command to go into all the world includes the command to heal the sick and cast out demons, although non-charismatic Evangelicals tend to truncate the above verse in Mark, missing off the second sentence.

We are still in the last days.  The term 'last days' refers to the period between Christ's ascension and his return (feel free to check this out).  The Holy Spirit has not withdrawn his power.  Some churches have shut these things out, contrary to the teaching of Paul, who said we should 'earnestly desire the greater gifts'.

Notes
(1) I am going to use the phrase 'Holy Spirit' without the definite article, i.e. rather than 'the Holy Spirit'.  Some Bible Teachers such as David Pawson do this, and I believe it does better justice to the Biblical text and emphasises His Personality
(2) I prefer to use the term 'other languages' rather than 'tongues'.  This is a better modern expression of what the Bible says  emphasises the fact that God gives people other languages to speak which have not been learned and can be translated rather than just gibberish.

On Labels: Evangelical

I haven't looked up the definition on Wikipedia - or anywhere else.

But for me, the word 'evangelical' boils down to four things:

True Evangelical churches
1. Teach the Bible
2. Care about unbelievers, and preach the gospel to them
3. Protect themselves against false teaching and compromise
4. State what they believe

The Problem
'Did God really say...?'.  That encounter between the first woman and the serpent is repeated countless times today.  We have stopped daring to take God at his word.  Our theological colleges and churches all too often undermine our faith in God's word instead of strengthening it.  We have countless translations of the Bible in English.  But all too often, it is not read, it is not believed and it is not lived.  And because of our limited knowledge of God through the scriptures, we often resort to a people-pleasing, man-centred Gospel which is not powerful enough to bring true godliness and repentance.

As evangelicals:
- We believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant word of God
- We teach the Bible – we 'exegete' – read out of the passages of the Bible [scripture] what is in there.  We avoid manipulating scripture to make it say what we want.
- We usually teach the Bible in a 'book by book' way, rather than picking out the passages and themes we like.  We do this to try and avoid bias and obsessing over pet themes, keep the content of our teaching balanced and read passages in their proper context.
- We weigh teachings, prophecies, guidance and philosophies against the clear teaching of scripture
- We seek to preach the gospel – the good news of Jesus Christ – to every creature
- The gospel is centred around God's righteousness and our sinfulness.  Our sins deserve God's wrath, and we are saved by the atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, through repentance, faith, baptism and abiding in Christ on our part and the regenerating power of God's Holy Spirit on his part
- We preach the gospel in church meetings and outside of meetings.  We train our members in personal evangelism
- We defend the message of the gospel from false versions of it, warning people against compromise and false teaching.

Non-Evangelical Churches
1. Have no real credibility to most outsiders and some insiders, and in the long run they lose members and eventually die
2. Allow politics and social action to take precedence over the message of the gospel.  Solving temporal problems takes priority over where people spend eternity.
3. Try to make people like them and like God instead of seeing people as spiritually blind and lost sinners in need of a saviour.
4. Compromise the message of the gospel in the face of opponents of Christianity to try and win them over.  They often 'jump on bandwagons', following current belief systems, mixing them with scripture as they see fit.
5. Mix the Bible with tradition or false spirituality or intellectualism.
6. On occasion, add extra traditions and teachings to scripture.
7. Seek unity with other groups within other forms of Christianity and sometimes other religions on a 'lowest common denominator' basis.

On Labels

“Don't swear!”, a friend once said when I used the term 'evangelical'.  It was the 1980s.  He was very much on the charismatic wing of the church and it was fashionable at that time for some to dismiss the churches evangelical heritage as irrelevant.  I don't follow the soap opera of which Christian leader has said what to whom very closely, but I suspect that the boot is now on the other foot.  To call yourself 'Charismatic' in some circles it to put your head well above the parapet.

I am not keen, however, to abandon a label just because there has been a serious attempt to discredit it.  In fact, insults can be a badge of honour.  The terms 'Christian', 'Methodist', 'Puritan' were coined as terms of abuse.  Spurs supporters have confused the authorities by defiantly calling themselves 'Yids'.  My daughter was asking some time ago for a t-shirt labelled 'Geek'.

Blessed are you when...

The next phase of my blog explains to some degree where I am doctrinally, or to be more exact, my ecclesiology – my view as to how church should be.  It is not to say I won't ever change my mind, but I have firm convictions which are are carefully thought out.

I think that in the UK, terms are less nuanced than they are in the US where, for example, 'Reformed', 'Evangelical' and 'Fundamentalist' are separate terms with their own well defined adherents.  I'm not as sophisticated as that.  Apart from fundamentalist or 'fundy', which has been almost completely discredited over here, I could be happily defined as Reformed or Evangelical.

So the best thing, I think, is to use a term and then define it with my own personal interpretation.

So, very simply, I am going to go through four terms which represent 'where I am', and what foundations a church should be built upon.  Some of my views are 'mainstream' and others are 'radical'.  The church I have a vision for would be pretty unique in the North of England.  Possibly unique in the UK.  Maybe unique in Western Europe.  But I will be bold enough to say that in order for the church to thrive in the 21st century, we need churches like this!

Blessings